God is Good! All the time! During these busy months of retreats we as a SPIRITUS Team are able to step out of the busyness and enter into Formation once a week! During Formation, different speakers educate us on different topics ranging all the way from Finding Joy in the Cross, to the New Evangelization, to the Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus.
Here's a summary of some of the things I have learned from Formation:
The Joy in the Cross:
“Believe the incredible and you can do the impossible!” During the Passion of the Christ, when Jesus Falls and the Blessed Mother runs to help Him. Jesus says, “See Mother I make all things new.” This shows the Joy He had in carrying His cross. Jesus the Son of God had to suffer greatly, therefore to follow Christ we WILL suffer. Jesus picked up His cross with great joy, yet He knew what the outcome would be. True Joy comes in embracing God’s will and in embracing God's will you will be truly free!
The New Evangelization:
“A person only discovers himself by making a gift of himself.” To evangelize is to bring others to God.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan gives us seven strategies of Evangelization:
- To keep the question, the longing for God, alive in the hearts of other people.
- “Be not afraid!” Have confidence that Christ sends us on a mission. Also, we (the Church) ourselves need to be Evangelized! “You can not give what you do not have!”
- Friendship with Jesus! God does not satisfy the thirst of the human heart with a proposition, but only with a Person, whose name is Jesus.
- This person, Jesus, tells us He is the Truth, the Way and the Life. The way of Jesus is in and through His Church.
- The missionary, the evangelist, must be a person of JOY!
- Evangelization is about LOVE!
- Blood! To be martyrs for the Church. To believe in the mission of Christ so firmly that we are willing to give our life for it.
God is calling each and every person to Evangelization through different ways! Listen for God's voice in your life!
The Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:
- The Holy Spirit in the life of Jesus:
“He emptied Himself.....” Of what? God was willing to come down and be one of us. God put aside God and chose to be one of us. The Holy Spirit came and took root in Jesus! At the Incarnation through the Holy Spirit. At the Baptism, Jesus had to say yes to being man.
- The Holy Spirit in the Church:
The church is lead by the Spirit of God. We as a people are being invited to “Receive the Holy Spirit!” Jesus is almost begging us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and yet we can only receive as much as we are open to receiving.
- The Holy Spirit in our lives:
God is with us; we have to be open to God’s will! We have to take the message of Christ to others! We need to be Informative, to bring the good news of Jesus and Performative, to be life-changing!
I thank God for each and every person who takes the time to share their Faith and wisdom with the SPIRITUS Team! May God Bless! Peace!
Karissa
